Minister of Petroleum Sherif Ismail witnessed the signing of an agreement on Sunday to establish a new project to produce high octane gasoline with investments worth approximately $300m.

The agreement was signed between the Alexandria National Refining and Petrochemical Company (ANRPC) and UOP, the licence holder for the project.

ANRPC Chairman Ahmed Abou Rouh said the project targets an increase in high octane gasoline, by establishing an additional unit to reform and improve catalytic naphtha.

The project’s feed capacity of heavy naphtha, the basic material in producing high octane gasoline, is currently worth 540,000 tonnes annually. The project targets the production of a further 850,000 tonnes annually, doubling the company’s current production to reach 1.7m tonnes per year, Abou Rouh said.

The project further aims to increase the production of butane to reach 15,000 tonnes, as well as producing 35,000 tonnes of Hydrogen annually, Abou Rouh added.

Furthermore, Ismail witnessed the signing of a contract between ANRPC and Ennpi [Engineering for The Petroleum and Process Industries] as the general contractor for the project.

Ennpi Chairman Emam Al-Said clarified that the scope of the company’s business, as a general contractor for the project, includes detailed engineering designs and purchase of equipment services, fixtures and the construction. He noted that the implementation will take place jointly with Petrojet Company.

A further contract was signed between ANRPC and Abu Qir Fertilizers Company, offering technical services to a project to establish a unit producing ammonia with an annual capacity of 150,000 tonnes. This will benefit from hydrogen produced from the naphtha improvement unit, according to Abu Qir Fertilizers Company Chairman Saad Aboul Maaty.

The project comes in the context of the Ministry of Petroleum’s strategy to reach optimal benefit from the refinery labs’ production units. This will aim to increase their production capacity to provide the local market with increased needs of petroleum products, as well as reducing their import rates, Ismail said.

He added that the petroleum sector is intensifying its efforts to expand in projects such as this, that also have a high value strategic dimension and significance in meeting Egypt’s petroleum products needs.